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A conversation with Tina Pandi

For the A conversation with, I would like to send you Schema, 1966 by Dan Graham which was originally published in 1967 in Aspen magazine (no. 5+6). In this work, Graham proposed a poem-generator, a “schema’ for composing a poem the specific form of which is determined by each editor (or viewer-reader) every time it is published.Tina PandiPOEM, MARCH 1966 / DAN GRAHAM

Schema for a set of poems whose component pages are specifically published as individual poems in various magazines. Each poem-page is to be set in its final form by the editor of the publication where it is to appear, the exact data in each particular instance to correspond to the fact(s) of its published appearance.

1 Using any arbitrary schematic (such as the example published here) produces a large, finite permutation of specific, discrete poems.

2 If a given variant-poem is attempted to be set up by the editor following the logic step-by-step (linearly), it would be found impossible to compose a completed version of the poem as each of the component lines of exact data requiring completion (in terms of specific numbers and percentages) would be contingently determined by every other number and percentage which itself in turn would be determined by the other numbers or percentages, ad infinitum.

3 It would be possible to 'compose' the entire set of permutationally possible poems and to select the applicable variant(s) with the aid of a computer which could 'see' the ensemble instantly.